4.5 Adjusting for NZ Superannuation Fund
Since 2002, public contributions have been made to a fund denoted the New Zealand Superannuation Fund.[31] These have been invested by the Fund with a view to meeting the rising costs of universal superannuation as the population ages. As these funds have been raised from households (or businesses as owners of households), and as households are the intended beneficiaries when the funds are distributed through the system of superannuation, then it is legitimate to view these funds as being in effect part of household saving. They are fundamentally equivalent to those funds set aside by households in private retirement schemes (although arguably one might want to apply a discount factor to reflect the possibility that as long as the funds remain under Crown control, future governments may want to divert the funds to another purpose).
Data were obtained for the opening annual balances of the fund, and these were used to derive the annual net increases after taxes and expenses. This amount was taken as an addition to household wealth, equivalent to an increase in the annual saving rate of households.[32] Over the period 2002 to 2011, this has the effect of raising the estimate of household saving by an annual average of 2.1 percentage points of household disposable income.
Notes
- [31]See http://www.nzsuperfund.co.nz/.
- [32]See Appendix I for details.
